Contrary to Popular Belief
by Mistress of Sarcasm
Summary: Haruno Sakura has never loved Uchiha Sasuke before the instant he whispers thank you. Uchiha Sasuke has loved Haruno Sakura ever since the instant he first lays eyes on her when he is 5yearsold.


I was bored, enough said. This is what happens when I read too many drabbles.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, don't sue me.

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Contrary to popular belief, Haruno Sakura has never loved Uchiha Sasuke before the instant he whispers thank you and leaves lying on a cold bench on his way to Oto. 

In later years, she will come to realize that this is the reason that she couldn't keep him in Konoha; her love wasn't strong enough because it wasn't there. When she screams at him about how she loves him, in the back of her mind she knows it is all lies and she is just a silly little girl who believes she knows what love is. She has believed, up until that moment, that she is a grown up and hopelessly in love with her Prince Charming. But the truth is that she is nothing more that a slip of a girl who has yet to dye her hands in the colour of life, yet to see the red washed ground of a battle field, and she has no idea what love is. All she knows is that Sasuke is the most popular boy and all the girls love him and she wants desperately to fit in and so she must love the Uchiha as they all do.

But she doesn't, and she realizes it the moment the lies have left her lips.

And she thinks maybe Sasuke knows it too, because he calls her annoying and in a flash of revelation, she realizes she is and she's a stupid little girl and she needs to grow up. She realizes in that instant that she needs to stop trying to conform into what others think she should be and become who she wants to be. She reads the history of the next three years in that second and for a fraction of that second, an image of herself, tall, strong, proud and independent dances before her eyes, and she has a goal.

And then Sasuke is behind her, and she can feel his breath against the back of her neck and she can almost see the blankness in his eyes.

"_Thank you_." He whispers.

And she hears every pain, every sorrow, every vow of revenge and every scream he awoke with on his lips for years. She hears the terrible rawness of his soul in those two words and right then she knows him better than he knows himself and she sees what he will become and what he must do, but it doesn't scare her because she has a goal to work for and so does he. But in that second before darkness, she knows who he is and what he must do and she feels every emotion within him and they are one for that single breathe in time.

And she falls in love with him for real in that instant.

ooooo

Contrary to popular belief, Uchiha Sasuke has loved Haruno Sakura every moment of every day ever since the instant he first lays eyes on her when he is 5-years-old.

He thinks she is the most beautiful creature he has ever seen and she is the only girl he knows who looks very pretty when she cries, with the twin streaks of water running down her pale cheeks. He adores her soft looking hair that is the colour of blossoms and sways in the wind. Her voice is soft and her eyes are the brightest green he has ever seen and when he walks out of the academy on his first day and glances around, he sees her, sitting on the ground, crying. She's all hunched up in a ball and there are soft sobs coming from her. He doesn't know who she is, and thinks he should walk away. But then she raises her head and all he can see are green fields and soft pink clouds and the scent of the sakura on the trees in spring surrounds him. He feels dizzy, but it's a good kind of dizzy and his heart keeps going '_doki doki_' really fast. For that one brief moment in time, he stares across the playground at her and she is the most stunning creature he has ever seen, beautiful in her sorrow.

And when his brother finally comes to get him, Sasuke is staring dreamily into space, his cheeks dusted with pink and his eyes wistful. When Itachi grows curious enough to ask, Sasuke replies that he has found his one true love and he will marry her one. Itachi does not laugh because the look in Sasuke's eyes can only be that of a lovesick man.

But the next day, she is different, sitting with Ino and trying to copy the Yamanaka. She is not the weeping beauty of yesterday and he watches in fear and sadness as she drifts farther and farther from him in her quest to be like the other mindless little girls in their class and gain her acceptance. And he forces himself to close his heart to what she has become, despite the fact that he hears his own breaking at the action.

So he tries to hate her, and almost succeeds in forever driving her from his heart.

But then he awakens in the Shi no Mori, feeling more powerful and far more sadistic than he has in years and he sees her, bloodied, battered, her hair crudely cut, hanging in uneven slashes over her back but her eyes are burning with a fire he has never seen before and there are the stains of blood that is not her own on her and she is no longer the shallow little girl Ino taught her to be.

She is the kunoichi she was born to be, a warrior and a fighter, and he loves her all over again.

And weeks later, as he thanks her for all she has done, and scoffs at her lies of love, he catches sight of her green eyes as she falls into unconsciousness.

They are burning, just as they were that day in the Shi no Mori and he knows with a jolt that she loves him just as he loves her.

But he still has a long road ahead of him, so he leaves her on the bench, alone and grief stricken, but truly, for the first time, in love.

And, though she will never know, though the world will never know, he has indulged himself in the slight pleasure that his vengeance has denied him so long.

Before he left, he stole her first kiss, and he is satisfied with that.

ooooo

Contrary to popular belief:

Haruno Sakura has never loved Uchiha Sasuke before the instant he whispers thank you and leaves lying on a cold bench on his way to Oto.

Uchiha Sasuke has loved Haruno Sakura every moment of every day ever since the instant he first lays eyes on her when he is 5-years-old.

ooooo

Uzumaki Naruto knows all of this and will stop at nothing to set it right.

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A different take on SasuSaku. Just an idea that popped into my head. It just didn't seem to fit under 'Legacy', so it's an independent work. Hope you all liked it. 

MoS


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